“The usual amount of trouble,” Nick said. “Jake, this is my father, Quentin.”
The two men shook hands, sized each other up.
“Heard a lot about you,” Quentin said.
“And this is Professor Lewis,” Nick said. “From Oxford University.”
The professor gave him a slight bow, perhaps sensing that he’d never write again if he shook hands with the man.
“Gentlemen,” Jake said, “I flew over here because Kate asked me to. She said I’d get the full story when I was on the ground. So here I am.”
“It’s Munich and it’s lunchtime,” Nick said. “Let’s go have some brats and a few beers.”
* * *
They found a little Brauhaus where they could grab an isolated table in the back garden. Once the food and beer were delivered, Quentin launched into the story, starting with the Brotherhood contacting him about infiltrating the Vatican museum and stealing a seventy-five-year-old map, his own investigation into the group, what they stood for, and how they had contracted with the Roter Stern Korps to help recover the four hundred tons of Raubgold. And how Quentin had decided to find the gold himself, before they could get near it.
Jake listened carefully. When Quentin finished the story by recounting the theft at the Vatican, the gunfight at the London safe house, and then the trip to the top of the Eiffel Tower, any normal father would have pulled his daughter aside and made immediate arrangements to fly them both home on the next plane. Instead, Jake ran one hand through the stubble on his head, looked over at his daughter, and asked her one question. “What can I do to help?”
“We need climbing gear,” Kate said, “communications equipment, and weapons.”
“I have a contact here who can get us anything we need,” Jake said. “Where’s the next mission, anyway?”
“You know how I never wanted to be a princess when I was a little kid?”
“That was your sister,” Jake said. “You wanted to be a ninja.”
“Well, it’s too bad Megan’s not here,” Kate said, “because we’re going to Cinderella’s castle.”
* * *
It was another two-hour train ride from Munich to the Bavarian town of Hohenschwangau. As soon as they stepped out onto the station’s outdoor platform, they saw the spires of Neuschwanstein Castle rising a thousand feet above the tree line.
“Piece of Kuchen,” Nick said, looking up and blinking in the glare of sunlight.
They checked into a small inn and then gathered outside in a private courtyard to plan out their next steps.
“I’ve been studying the symbols on the second map,” Lewis said, tapping on his laptop. “They are like links in a chain. In the first link, there was a rune meaning up just above the banner, indicating that the next link would be found at the highest point of the tower. But here in the second link, the rune is next to the swan in Schwanenritter. Which helps answer another question: Why did the creator of this link use the general Schwanenritter when he could have used the specific name Lohengrin?”
“Cut to the chase,” Nick said. “What does this all mean?”
“The rune next to the swan indicates food, or mouth. So you’re looking for a swan in the castle, and inside the swan’s mouth—”
“Is the next link,” Nick said.
“Correct.”
“So we should start by taking a scouting mission to the castle,” Nick said.
An hour later, they were all on the public shuttle to the castle. It ran for miles, up the steep access road. Jake and Kate looked out one side of the shuttle, watching the road and the forest that lay beyond it. Nick and Quentin looked out the other side. The professor read the little guidebook he had picked up at the ticket stand.
“Much of the castle’s interiors are still unfinished,” Lewis said. “That’s good news.”
Nick looked over at him, then at the twenty other people who were on the shuttle. He had heard four or five languages being spoken, but he was sure half the bus probably spoke some English. He put one finger to his lips.
Lewis got the message, nodded, and made like a man locking his mouth up tight and throwing away the key.
When the shuttle van reached the top, it drove through a great stone archway. They all noted the massive iron gate that would slide shut after hours. When the vehicle stopped and everyone got off, they also spotted the two German police officers standing by the entrance. A hard-looking man and a woman who, Nick thought, looked like she could kick the man’s ass and their asses at the same time. They had eagles on their badges, meaning Bundespolizei, the federal police. What were they doing here? You don’t deploy your top police resources guarding a tourist site. Unless that was exactly the point. The Vatican and the Eiffel Tower both get hit, within days of each other. Maybe Interpol was advising its member countries to keep a close eye on all major cultural sites. If that’s true, Nick thought, our lives just got a lot more complicated.
The group was led past a kiosk where everyone received an audio device with the tour information recorded in several different languages. A sign reminded them that any form of photography was strictly forbidden on these grounds. That was Nick’s cue to glance over at the police officers, then start the micro 4K video recorder he had peeking out of his shirt pocket.
Jake, Kate, Nick, and Quentin let Professor Lewis go ahead of them so they could lag behind the rest of the group. The entrance led directly to a spiral staircase that went up a hundred feet to the main level of the castle. The first window appeared, blocked with three iron bars. Nick tried to look downward to judge the distance, but all he could see was the tops of the trees below. He turned to Kate and shook his head.
Kate put the audio device in her ear to hear the recorded tour. Nick didn’t bother with the audio. His job was to look for creative ways to get in and out.
When they reached the main level, they saw the first painting decorating the great foyer. It was a swan. Nick turned his head and saw another swan, then another. Kate came over to stand next to him, took the audio device from her ear.
“You remember that opera the professor was telling us about?” Kate asked. “The Swan Knight?”
Nick nodded.
“The guy who built this castle, he wasn’t just a fan of Wagner’s. He was the official president of the fan club. And this castle we’re standing in right now was basically his love letter to swans.”
Nick smiled. “This is getting more fun by the minute.”
He stayed close to Kate as she trailed behind the rest of the tour, moving from one elaborately decorated room to another. Jake and Quentin stayed just ahead of them, ready to distract any tour guides who came looking for the stragglers.
There were two separate throne rooms, a great hall, and several royal bedrooms. Professor Lewis might have been right about much of the castle being unfinished, but there was still plenty of castle that was finished, and it was all finished with swans. Nick stopped counting at seventy.
They caught up to Professor Lewis at the end of the tour. He was staring intently at a fresco on the ceiling. “It’s one of the most remarkable things I’ve ever seen,” he said. “I don’t know why I ever put off coming here.”